Motor Fuels Tax Minute, Episode 71: Power of Attorney – Certifications

In this week’s episode of Motor Fuels Tax Minute, our hosts cover certification requirements for Power of Attorney.

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Detailed Description of Weaver’s Motor Fuels Tax Minute, Episode 71

00:00:00
Leanne: Welcome to Weaver’s Motor Fuels Tax Minute, the vlog where we talk all things motor fuel. Today we’re going to take a slightly different angle, we’re beginning the discussion on a new series. This does relate to motor fuel, but it’s not motor fuel specific. It’s those pesky Powers of Attorney, Kelly, that we have to file all the time, whether it’s federal or state. And I say pesky, but I say it in jest. They are important to let State Departments of Revenue and the federal government know that we are representing various taxpayers. We’ve run into some interesting questions and conundrums, particularly on the federal ones. So, we wanted to split it up a little bit. These are short bites. What’s the first thing you wanted to reach out about?

00:00:41
Kelly: I want to go through what a lot of people do not consider on the Form 2848 because so many of us have been in this industry for so long — we know the agents, we call them up, we’re friendly, we see them at FTA — but there are certification requirements if you are not an employee when you go to sign up Form 2848. Really, the big ones, the most obvious ones, are the CPA and the attorney license number. If you have either of those, you are good to go. Put one or the other on there and you represent the company.

The one that’s becoming a little more popular is the enrolled agent. And the hard part about the enrolled agent is it’s a series of tests. To be honest, I’m not as familiar with it, but from what I’ve heard, it’s really income tax based, which makes it kind of hard for us motor fuel tax people who don’t work in income tax and haven’t done that since college. Some of us never even touched it because we all just seem to fall into this industry.

00:01:33
Leanne: Yeah, I don’t know that I could pass an enrolled agent test. Although I did pass the bar, we’ll see which one is harder.

00:01:43
Kelly: I don’t know… income tax, it’s been a while. It would be interesting if in the future, the IRS started considering a separate certification for motor fuel tax. Leanne, you probably know a ton of people in the industry once again fell into this who know way more than what they would need to know on the enrolled agent, but now can’t talk to the IRS because they don’t have this certification. Maybe experience?

00:02:05
Leanne: Yeah. That’s right. I mean, what you can do without the enrolled agent, CPA or attorney designation is pretty limited. It’s essentially preparing and filing tax returns. There’s not a whole lot beyond that at any conversations that might be surrounded to those returns that can take place without those designations. And we’re those left-handed bottle openers in fuel tax. Maybe the IRS will consider more of a fuels and excise tax kind of specific testing in the future. Maybe putting this out into the world will get some conversation around it.

00:02:41
Kelly: I love that, yeah, definitely. If you’re listening in, drop in the comments some of your ideas, whether it’s an experience certification. Maybe if you work in the industry for five years and you get signed off, you’re good to go. Maybe it’s testing. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

00:02:54
Leanne: Well thanks, Kelly. Food for thought there for sure. Just bear in mind, you know the rules as they stand. As Kelly said, if you are looking for somebody to represent you beyond just that tax preparation portion, you really need somebody who’s an enrolled agent, a licensed CPA, or a licensed attorney.

And with that, that was this week’s Motor Fuels Tax Minute.

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Motor Fuels Tax Minute, Episode 72: Power of Attorney – Employee Representation